Refrigerator cabinet insulation



May 12, 1 936. c NAUERT 2,040,399

REFRIGERATOR CABINET INSULATION F iled March 1, 1934 :2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR an. 7 km ATTORNEY y 3 c. H. NAUERT 2,040,399.

REFRIGERATOR CABINET INSULATION Filed March 1, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 2 ATTORNEY Patented May 12, 1936 PATENT OFFICE REFRIGERATOR CABINET INSULATION Carl H. Nauert, Evansville, Ind., assignor to Servel, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application March 1, 1934, Serial No. 713,441

3 Claims. (Cl. 220-9) This invention relates to household refrigerators, and more particularly to the cabinets of such refrigerators and insulation for such cabinets.

It is an object of the invention to provide insulation capable of being easily applied about a liner and with the insulation sealed against the passage of air or the like at the joints, thereby improving the insulating eifect.

10 It is a further object of the invention to provide as a unit insulation for the top, bottom and sides of the cabinet, and a separate panel of insulation for the rear of the cabinet which rear panel is adapted to snugly engage the insulation for the top, bottom and sides of the cabinet.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein Fig. l is a side elevation of a cabinet constructed in accordance with the present invention and having a portion of the side wall broken away to disclose the insulation and the liner about which the insulation is applied;

Fig. 2, a similar view of the rear of the cabinet;

Fig. 3, a similar view looking down upon the cabinet;

Fig. 4, a plan view of the insulation for the top, bottom and two sides of the cabinet prior to its application;

Fig. 5, an edge view of the insulation in Fig. 4 illustrating the manner of its application;

Fig. 6, an enlarged fragmentary detail of one rear corner of the insulation as applied;

Fig. '7, a vertical section through the insulation in its assembled relation, showing in broken lines the rear insulating panel;

Fig. 8, a section on line 8-8 of Fig. '7; and

40 Fig. 9, an enlarged fragmentary detail of one front comer of the insulation as applied.

Referring to the drawings, a refrigerator cabinet consists of an outer shell or casing l0 and an inner shell or liner ll between which shells insulation is adapted to be applied for preventing heat transfer from the exterior to the interior of the cabinet or through the cabinet wall. The cabinet is of the type in which access to the food compartment defined by the .interior of the liner may be had by means of a door l2. The food compartment is refrigerated by a cooling unit, not shown, disposed therein and connected to a refrigerating unit, not shown, located in the lower compartment of the cabinet, access to which lower compartment can be had by means .of wrap-ping material may be used.

case one portion is of a length corresponding to 5 of a door l3. The casing in and the liner II are maintained in spaced relation by means of suitable framework.

Heretofore insulations of various types have been employed, one example being in the form 5 of slabs of insulation between the liner and its enclosing casing of the cabinet. These slabs in some instances have been wrapped to render them impervious to the passage of air or moisture. With this construction the joints have 10 not been tight and heat leakage has occurred. In the present instance means is provided for sealing such joints and at the same time the same means is also utilized for facilitating the application of the insulation, consequently re- 15 ducing the cost of labor involved.

In accordance with this invention five slabs of insulation are provided, one each for the top, bottom two sides, and rear of the cabinet, all of which are suitably wrapped in waterproof 20 paper or other material to render them impervious' to the passage of moisture and. air. As shown in Fig. 4, four wrapped slabs of insulation, l4, l5, I6, and H are provided, the slabs l4 and I5 serving to insulate respectively the top and 25 bottom of the cabinet, and the slabs I6 and I1 serving to insulate the two sides of the cabinet. The wrapping for these slabs of insulation is of waterproof paper or the like for the purpose described above. 30

This wrapping for the several slabs may be applied in a number of ways, for example, one strip of material folded over upon itself, or two strips In either the total length of the four slabs l4, l5, I6, and I7 and forms when the insulation is in place an outer covering for the respective slabs. The other portion on the opposite side of the slab from the first mentioned portion is crimped at the joints 4 between the slabs to closely conform to the surface of the slab including the beveled ends of the same. The wrapping material is folded over at the front and rear edges as shown, and secured in place by cementing or the .like. The 5 above described construction is nothing more than a single sheet or two spaced sheets of wrapping material between which the insulating slabs are confined, the wrapping material having its edges overlapping and cemented together. 50 Where two continuous sheets are used, as above described, there are three joints provided other than the extremities of the insulating unit, and the cementing together of the sheets is begun at the central'joint. 55

Instead of two continuous sheets an outer continuous sheet and four inner sheets may be employed, or as an alternative construction each slab may be wrapped independently and a single backing sheet employed for holding them together in the manner shown. The slabs being properly wrapped and secured together are applied to the cabinet with the slab ll resting on top of the liner, the slabs I 6 and H at the sides and the slab I at the bottom. The free ends of the slabs l5 and I! are united by means of an adhesive tab I8. Thus continuous insulation for the two sides, top and bottom of the cabinet is provided.

In order to accommodate insulation for the rear of the cabinet the slabs l4, 15, I6, and I] are beveled at their rear edges in order to receive a complementarily beveled rear slab l9. When the slab I9 is applied the joint around the margin of the same is sealed by gummed strips applied thereover. I

From the above it will be readily apparent that insulation for the cabinet with the exception of the door is formed of two units, one serving to insulate the top, bottom and two sides, and the second to insulate the rear. The cabinet is provided with two openings, one being the door at the front of the cabinet and theother being the window 20 in the rear wall of the cabinet, the wrapping for the insulation being sealed around the window opening. 7

Insulation constructed as above described and formed of two major sections can be easily applied with minimum labor.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various other changes may be made in the construction and arrangement without departing from the spirit of the invention, and therefore the invention is not limited to that which is described in .the specification and shown in the drawings, but only as indicated in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a refrigerator cabinet having an outer casing and a storage compartment formed by a substantially rectangular liner within and spaced from said outer casing, insulation attached directly to the outside of said liner and comprising a plurality of slabs of insulation material hinged together by flexible, thermal insulating material.

2. In a refrigerator cabinet having an outer casing and a storage compartment formed by a liner within and spaced from said outer casing, insulation attached directly to the outside of said liner and comprising a plurality of slabs of thermal insulating material connected by thin sheets of flexible, thermally insulating material cemented thereto.

3. In a refrigerator cabinet having an outer casing and a storage compartment formed by a substantially rectangular liner within and spaced from said outer casing, insulation attached directly to the outside of said liner and comprising a slab of thermally insulating material on each closed side of said liner, some of said slabs being hinged together by flexible, insulating material, and the adjacent edges of all the said slabs being covered by thin flexible material.

CARL H. NAUERT. 

